Ask Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Curtis Foltz to describe the ports’ biggest challenges in 2011, and he’ll tell you they fell into two categories: growing jobs and moving forward with the Savannah Harbor deepening project.

Major challenges, to be sure, but ones met with significant successes, making Georgia Ports the Savannah Morning News Impact Business of the Year.

In a year when most major ports were growing by inches, Savannah’s port grew by leaps and bounds.

“We will end 2011 with a record year at Garden city Terminal, moving 2.94 million TEUs, or 20-foot equivalent units, up more than 120,000 units and an all-time record,” Foltz said.

At Ocean Terminal, the rebound was even stronger, with 1.2 million tons expected to cross the docks by the end of the year, an increase of 13 percent.

“The growth areas at Ocean Terminal were rubber, iron and steel imports and exports of construction and farm machinery as well as forest products,” he said.

Down the road at GPA’s Brunswick port, 2011 will be a record year for autos, with 490,000 units moved for an increase of 22 percent.

“It was also a great year for us in terms of growing market share, which helps bring more and more business into the ports,” he said. “That, in turn, allows us to build on our existing strengths and create a broad foundation that supports growth in imports and exports, upgrade and expand our equipment and infrastructure and create better efficiencies for our customers.”

But GPA could not have accomplished what it did in 2011 with the support of the state, Foltz said.

“The state has done a fantastic job improving freight mobility, supporting such Last Mileprojects as the Jimmy DeLoach Parkway Connector, the Highway 307 Overpass and rail enhancements,” he said. “These improvements combined with our capacity at Garden City Terminal, have made us a very attractive port for the entire Southeast.”

And that helps meet one of the port’s top challenges.

“When you wrap all these successes together, they translate into jobs — for our longshoremen and truckers, GPA employees and the entire Savannah and Brunswick maritime communities,” Foltz said.

“But the local impact is just the beginning. The ripple effect spreads throughout the state and Southeast region.”

According to economists at the University of Georgia, GPA’s deepwater ports and inland terminals support more than 295,000 jobs throughout the state annually and contribute $15.5 billion in income, $61.7 billion in revenue and $2.6 billion in state and local taxes to Georgia’s economy.

Advances in harbor deepening

The port’s 15-year efforts to deepen the Savannah River channel notched several measurable successes in 2011, Foltz said.

“The (U.S. Army) Corps of Engineers finished their studies and we’ve met with all the cooperating agencies — from the federal level to South Carolina,” he said. “The Corps has developed the final mitigation plan and is now drafting the final documents.”

Those documents will most likely be available for public review in the first quarter of next year, he said.

“That will be a huge step as we continue to move the ball down the field, with 2012 being a key year for the project.”

A record of decision is expected next year, most likely sometime in the third quarter, he said.

“At that point, we will be able to move forward immediately to begin the environmental mitigation work,” he said, adding that it will take approximately a year of mitigation before the dredging contracts can be awarded.

“That’s why it’s so important that the state has already funded the project to the level it has,” Foltz said.

Another important step for GPA in 2011 was the addition of a full-time environmental manager, Foltz said.

“Every infrastructure improvement we make has an environmental component,” he said. “We’ve had that commitment and vision for several years. Now this allows us to make sure we’re doing things the right way.”

In 2012, Foltz expects the ports to continue to grow.

“At the end of the day, customers use us if we’re reliable, provide value and handle their business safely and productively.

“We can do that because of the overwhelming support we continue to receive from the state, the community and our board.”

Senior business reporter Mary Carr Mayle covers the ports for the Savannah Morning News. She can be reached at 912-652-0324 or at mary.mayle@savannahnow.com.